“Instant Inspirations” is my series for you if you feel you suffer from “Photographer’s Block” or simply want to shoot something that you have never tried. Or at least not recently. Episode 33 is a Covid conform photographic activity and should inspire you to go out, properly socially distanced, and be creative. To find out what you can do with any camera that has manual controls, continue reading after the jump…
I did describe the ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) technique already in Episode 7 of my “Instant Inspirations” (you can find all of them in my free Learning Center). But given the fact that Covid cases are spiking again in Germany, and Nuremberg being a real hot spot, I’m lacking any kind of motivation to take my camera to the Streets of Nuremberg for my usual Street Photography. But why venture far when the good starts just a few yards behind the house.
So I grabbed my Olympus OM-D E-M1X with the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4 and headed into the woods behind the house for some creative ICM shooting. While normally photographers are keen on taking pin sharp photos, this time I was intentionally dialing in a slow shutter speed of 2.5 seconds.
The effects I was after I wanted to create by moving the camera slightly left to right or up and down (or a combination of both movements) while shooting with a slow shutter speed.
Another option is to gyrate the camera while pressing the shutter, as you can see in the above image of the mushroom.
Effectively using ICM takes a bit of practice and trial and error, but you can really get some “artsy” effects in your images with this technique. Doing it during bright daylight in the woods has also some technical advantages, besides the different colors and shapes of foliage and tree trunks being perfect and patient subjects. Shooting with slow shutter speeds during the day means you have to stop down to a tiny aperture (I used f/16 or f/22 for almost all images) and your lowest native ISO. Out in the open, your photograph would probably still be overexposed, so you would to attach a Neutral Density Filter to further reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor. But under the cover of the trees the light usually is already reduced enough that you can get away with 2.5 secs of shutter speed, which are a good starting point for this technique.
I hope you take some inspirations from this photos. Take your camera, go out and experiment intentionally moving your camera while shooting with very slow shutter speeds. I would love to see your results, post a link to your images in the comment section. Have fun!
Marcus
Related Posts:
Instant Inspiration (4) – Juxtaposition
Instant Inspiration (5) – Puddle Shooting